This is a complicated issue that is getting looked at internationally. Globally, the chemical industry is becoming more forthcoming in providing data on chemicals. There are limits to that, and we do want to make sure that confidential information is protected.
Even if the information isn't confidential, there's also an issue of a particular company going to the expense of generating the data—which could run into millions of dollars—and providing it to government. Should that information become publicly available? The concern isn't that the public gets the information, but that another company gets it and free-rides at the expense of the original company.
There are conflicting issues here. In Canada and internationally, we are moving increasingly towards more of this information being public, especially in the high production volume chemicals area. For the most part, this is being led in the U.S. and largely stimulated by pressure from environmental groups that say they've done literature searches and find little or no information on chemicals being used in huge volumes. Companies replied by saying it's not that we don't have the information, it's just that it's not in public data banks. Similarly, through a U.S. challenge program that's now more broadly accepted within the OECD—Canadian industry is also participating—and through the International Council of Chemical Associations, more data is being made publicly available.
We are moving in that direction. There's a definite boundary we don't want to cross regarding confidentiality. Then there's the other issue I raised about fairness—not of the public getting information, but of another company free-riding.